


Clever

by Abbyromana



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Flirting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-01 11:28:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13293894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbyromana/pseuds/Abbyromana
Summary: Jenny finds a definite positive from a less than average adventure when she meets Luke Smith, and Luke agrees full-heartedly.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I wrote some years ago. I'm reposting it from Livejournal, since I'm moving most of my works over. You might notice differences in my writing compared to my more recent works.

 

Jenny blew out an exasperated breath. She rested her head against the metal doorframe of the lift. There was no doubt in her mind that she was bored, despite this trip proving to be a surprise a dozen. Unfortunately, they weren't all necessarily the kind she wanted.

Several hours ago, she and her father were aboard the TARDIS, just passing through the Sol system via the vortex. Then the TARDIS detected an alien communication signal beam coming from the planet Earth, sometime during the early twenty-first century. Jenny dared to hope for a new and exciting adventure. Thoughts of fighting off an invading alien force or saving an innocent alien from some dark and sinister organisation on Earth had flickered through her mind.

Her father landed the TARDIS on Earth, specifically in London, England. They were sometime in the middle of summer of 2009. That's when he started rattling on about the key events and people of this year. Words and names of supposed interest whizzed past his lips, while his makeshift scanner led them to the signal's place of origin.

Jenny didn't catch any of it. Only thing she knew for sure, her father thought 2009 was a nice year. Instead, her thoughts focused on who was sending the signal.

Eventually, they followed the signal to  _Molten Agricultural Fertilizer Company's_  headquarters. As they approached one of the backdoors, five well-armed, casually clothed members of an Earth organization called UNIT apprehended them. The UNIT agents had mistaken her father and her as the aliens sending the signal. That, of course, was stupid. Her father explained, conceivably a bit rudely, to the operatives that they couldn't possibly be the aliens. The race, which her father called Zyums, was light sensitive, mostly blind, and looked like human-sized rodents. They were from the dark moon of Knye, where sunlight was rare. She and her father were none of these things.

Of course, that didn't stop these agents. The next thing Jenny and her father knew the agents were interrogating them. When she tried to aid her father in arguing the point, he less than subtly ordered her to stay mute. She wasn't happy about that but reluctantly did so. Meanwhile, her father protested their treatment and argued continuously for their release. He stated more than once:

"If you had one working muscle in that brain of yours, you'd know how much of a mistake you are making, and you wouldn't be stupid enough to consider ignoring my warnings. I am the Doctor, despite you playing ignorant to that name. Now, let us go, before something really bad happens."

That ended up being the wrong thing to say to these thickheaded humans. They took that as a threat and evidence of her father and her guilt. Within a matter of minutes, the agents called in their superior officer to handle the handover of her father and her. Jenny thought things were about to get worse. She imagined UNIT was going to lock them away in some dark, cold holding cell. Not that she never been locked up in a cell with and without her father, but she just never imagined it happening on Earth.

Yet, something unexpected happened. The moment the commanding officer, a Colonel Mace, entered the interrogation room, he ordered Jenny and her father immediately released. He personally apologized to her father, saluting him as if he was the Colonel's commanding officer.

Jenny remembered standing momentarily flabbergasted, before a snort of amusement fell from her lips. Her father gave her a severe scowl in response. She knew from experience her father really disliked people treating him like a general, and even more, he loathed people saluting him. Still, here he was a former high-ranking official in a covert military-based organisation. Why had he never told her about this part of his past?

Moments later, she found herself waiting for her father across the street from the  _Molten Agricultural Fertilizer Company_. She wasn't quite sure what he said to the Colonel to stop him from ordering an all out assault on the facility. When she asked him, her father simply said that he and Colonel Mace had come to an arrangement. They, he and her, were to covertly enter and try to deal with the Zyums in their own way. In the meantime, the Colonel was calling in backup to create perimeter to stop any Zyums from escaping. She suspected that her father was probably not given much time to accomplish the task before Colonel Mace and his troops would proceed in 'guns a blazing,' as her father like to put it.

Thus, Jenny and her father promptly entered the facility. As they snuck past the occasional janitor or security guard, she mused about this new information on her father. Not only did it give her further insight about him but also gave her a new way to torment him. Jenny had a feeling her father realised that too, especially after the first few times she called him 'General' and saluted him in response to him giving her an order. All the way up to a fourth floor office, where they found the building plans for the facility, he'd fumed and scolded her whenever she did repeat her teasing response. Of course, that didn't stop her.

That's why as they left the office with the floor plans he assigned her to be look out for any Zyums or Company employees. It was a pointless task. The likelihood of anyone appearing at either end of the main fourth floor hallway was remote at best. There were no humans in the building, at least not where they were on the fourth level. The likelihood further decreased when the fire alarm went off. Neither of them had set it off purposefully or accidentally. Still, it did amuse her father for the first few minutes. In fact, Jenny remembered him commenting:

"Wish I'd thought of that. Would have made sneaking a little less necessary."

At the time, Jenny grinned back with a teasing wink, recalling the marathon of secret agent movies he'd talked her into watching earlier. "Like you would miss out pretending to be all covert and James Bond-like."

He gave her a sly smile in return. Immediately, she knew he was about to give her an order, so she beat him to it, snapping to attention and saluting him.

"Oi! Aren't you suppose to be keeping an eye out," he commented sarcastically, pointing at his eyes and then to a point over her head.

Her reply was to stick her tongue out at him, before following him down the hallway. A moment later, he deactivated the annoying, high-pitched sound of the alarm at a fourth floor emergency panel. That meant only the almost blinding red light filled the hallway. Obviously, since no one else appeared, Jenny guessed humans wouldn't be a problem.

As for the Zyums, Jenny already suspected they wouldn't dare to show themselves up here during the daytime, even with the alarm going off. Not only would sunlight make them exceedingly sick but also they wouldn't risk humans spotting them. That could put their plans in danger. Thus, Jenny really didn't see the point of her given task besides it being her father's way of keeping her busy and out of the way.

Much like right now, while he bypassed the lift controls for the sub-terrain levels of the building, she was stuck on lookout duty. Now, she'd been standing watch in the opened doorway of the lift for the last fifteen minutes. She was bored.  
"Anything yet?" she asked, gazing into the lift.

"Nope!" her father replied simply, popping the 'p'.

Jenny smirked, leaning into the lift. "Well, I'd hurry up, if I were you, before your UNIT friends outside get overly anxious and decide to come in 'guns a blazing.'"

Her father flashed a frown at her with a raised eyebrow and said, "Don't be clever," he said with a mixture of teasing and intimidation to his tone. "Now go keep watch."

Jenny instantly snapped to attention, saluting him. "Yes, General!"

Her father rolled his eyes, grumbling something under his breath as he returned to his work.

Jenny chuckled, resting her head back against the metal frame again and watching for any signs of movement.

 

oOo

  
Somewhere down on the ground floor, Luke Smith and his mum crept through a brightly lit red hallway. He kept only three steps behind her. He wanted to stay where he could see into the calm blue glow of her sonic lipstick, cutting through the blinding red glow of the emergency lights. They activated in place of the regular lights when his mum set-off the fire alarm more than twenty minutes ago. He was impressed with his mum's brilliant plan to use a fake fire emergency to distract the security personnel and get them out of the building.

Luke noted that his mum often came up with such clever plans on the spur of the moment. This plan started when they'd entered the main lobby. She told the security guard at the front desk that she was here for her scheduled appointment with the CEO. She was here to learn about the wonders of the Company's new miracle fertilizer. She emphasized repeatedly how the CEO asked for her personally for this interview. The CEO left all sorts of clearance cards and notes for her at the check-in desk. The security guard was baffled and left stammering for an answer as to why he didn't have anything for her.

Finally, the guard came up with a reason, something about his supervisor being in a rush to leave earlier this morning after he received a call about his wife going into labour. He suggested his supervisor must have forgotten to tell him and left the clearance cards and notes in his office. If the security guard had really thought about what Luke's mum was saying, he might have realised she was lying. After all, it was a bank holiday, and his mum was a reporter from Ealing and known as an investigative reporter, not an agricultural reporter.

This was something else Luke envied about his mum. He still hadn't really mastered lying yet, but he wished he could learn. From there, his mum had subtly bumped off the fire alarm with her elbow, which set off a change of events. It ended with everyone but the two of them leaving the building.

A sharp creaking sound echoing somewhere further down the hallway drew the glow of his mum's sonic lipstick. Luke was jolted from his thoughts. He could see his mum tense, and her hand reach back for his hand. This gesture wasn't new for him. She often did it, just to check that he was still there and prepare herself in case they had to run. He'd actually gotten quite use to it, and in truth, welcomed it. Reaching forward, he slipped his hand into hers.

"Luke, stay close," his mum whispered, squeezing his hand for a moment but not meeting his gaze. "I think I hear something up ahead of us."

Luke nodded his understanding, feeling his mum release his hand before continuing forward. While staying in step with her once again, he noticed how carefully but confidently his mum moved. The sonic lipstick's glow remained steady and focused forward. Her gaze was just as focused, keeping note of any new shapes before them. Only when they saw another shut fire door did his mum adjust her posture and the setting of the sonic lipstick.

She pressed the sonic lipstick to the door's lock, and with a click, it slightly pulled away from the frame. Pushing it aside, they continued forward into yet another hallway lit red by the emergency lights. Once more, his mum squeezed his hand before starting off down the hallway. He continued after her, musing how this ability of hers also impressed him. Whenever they were in a tough situation, she knew when to stand her ground and keep a level head, and when to create a distraction and escape safely from any adversary out to hurt her and the rest of them.

Briefly reminded of Clyde and Rani, Luke wished they were here now. It hadn't ever just been him and his mum before on an adventure. However, Clyde was away at a sports camp for the summer and Rani was off visiting her great grandmother in India for a few weeks. For once, it had been quiet, no Earth-shattering events.

In fact, today was supposed to be a very casual day. 'A bit of mother-son time,' as his mum put it. They were supposed to be visiting the science museum. There was a new exhibit on the lifecycles of galaxies. Unfortunately, the visit was now on hold. Last night, Mr. Smith detected an energy signature coming from an Ealing warehouse used by  _the Molten Agricultural Fertilizer Company_.

A loud bang drew Luke's attention again forward, past even the glow of his mum's sonic lipstick. He squinted trying to see if he could see what was making the noise. Several meters down the hallway lit in red was a stout, short, and four-legged creature. It had a large snout, slit-shaped eyes and huge fangs dripping with saliva.

Luke didn't need to see anymore to recognize what that was. He'd met one face-to-face back at the Company's warehouse last night. Two human-sized rodent beings, which Mr. Smith later identified as Zyums, set four of those creatures on his mum and him. Mr. Smith later had also identified those pig-like creatures as trits, but his mum described them as giant, blind guard dogs. They had horrible vision, much like their masters, but an amazing sense of smell.

That became obvious again now when the trit gave a long sniff to the air, before suddenly turning sharply in their direction. Luke could hear his mum gasp before he felt her grip his hand tightly and drag him back down the hallway. The trit gave a loud, ear-piercing squeal, and then the pounding of its razor sharp hoofs echoed behind them. Luke could feel the vibration in his head as it race after them.

Mr. Smith had told them last night that trits were extremely quick and agile, which last night's encounter had confirmed. They rarely gave up. Mr. Smith said there were even accounts where they ate their way through solid rock to catch their prey. Last night, they'd had been lucky to escape the four trits. One of his mum's old UNIT friends, John Benton had been there. He shot all four of the trits dead. However, this time they didn't have any former or otherwise UNIT friends to help out.

"This way!" his mum yelled, shoving him through the fire door they'd just opened a few moments ago. She slammed it shut and pressed her sonic lipstick to the door's lock. Luke heard the loud click as the door locked.

A sigh of relief fell from both of their lips. His mum turned slowly back towards him. He gazed at her expectantly."That was close," his mum said, leaning back against the door. Her head titled back as she drew in few panting breaths.

"Yes, too close," Luke agreed, "but, Mum, doesn't that also cut us off from getting any closer to the Zyums' secret facility?"  
His mum tilted her head back in his direction. She now wore a new confident grin. "No, not really," she stated, "We really didn't need to go that way. I think there's... a... much better way to..."

A very loud bang from the locked door interrupted his mum. She jumped away from the door, placing a protective arm in front of him. Another even louder bang rocked the door, causing the door hinges to creak. Luke swore just behind the fire door, he could hear the high-pitched squeal of the trit.

"Sounds like that trit isn't done with us just yet," Luke stated, licking his lips. "We better hurry to find this better way, Mum."

"Right," his mum said, heading off down the hallway. Luke stayed in step with her.

With sonic lipstick in hand, she seemed to be scanning for something. After passing several closed doors, his mum turned sharply in the direction of the right side of the hallway. She raced over to a specific shut doorway. She pressed her sonic lipstick to what appeared to be some kind of control panel. It was beside a sliding door, but in the blinding red light, Luke didn't know where the sliding door led.

When Luke heard another sharp squeal, his gaze snapped back in the direction they'd come. He could see the trit was breaking through the thick metal, fire door as if it was mere wood. Shards of metal started to break away from the door. Soon the trit would be through, racing full speed towards them.

"Mum!" he yelled, feeling frantic. He hadn't felt this terrified, since his encounter with Mrs. Wormwood and Kaagh. Of course, his fear was more about something happening to his mum or never seeing her again rather than his life being in danger.

"Just a second, Luke," she said, breathing heavy. She adjusted the setting on her sonic lipstick, while still running it over the control panel. "I think I've almost got it!"

Luke wanted to run, putting more distance between them and the trit. Still, he knew running wasn't going to solve anything. They were here for a reason. An alien force was threatening to do uncountable damage to his home world, and only his mum and he stood in their way. If they ran, all would be lost. His mum knew that better than him. She wasn't about to run just because of a scary, bloodthirsty creature was seconds away from breaking through. Thus, Luke decided he wasn't about to either.

Still, he wished it wasn't taking his mum so long to bypass the panel. Gazing once more towards the fire doors, Luke could clearly see the trit's head peeking through an uneven hole in the door. The creature gave a loud, blood-chilling squeal. It looked mad and ready to kill.

 

oOo

  
When Jenny heard the distinct 'ding,' she was surprised. She looked about momentarily confused. The sound was staccato and repeated two more times. Her brow furrowed briefly, before she heard her father suddenly exclaim:  
"Ah Ha!"

Jenny gazed back towards her father. She saw him snap to his feet with a huge grin on his face. "I think I got it," he stated.  
"Glad to hear it," Jenny piped up, stepping into the lift. Then she smirked at him and added, "At last."

Her father turned his head sharply towards her, fixed her with a brief glare, and then stuck his tongue out at her. She returned the favour, sticking her tongue out at him. That made him smile as he pressed the sonic screwdriver against the key access panel of the lift.

"Allons-y!"

The lift doors slid shut and it started down. Jenny watched as each floor number lit up one after another: 3, 2, 1, G. Then there was a suddenly jolt as the lift stopped.  
Jenny's eyes widened as she looked to her father for an explanation. "Dad?" she asked fearfully and confused.  
"I know, I know," he muttered through gritted teeth, pressing his sonic to the key access panel again.  
"Then what?" she pressed for answer.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed, before there was another series of three dings and the lift door opened.  
  
_To be continued..._

 


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as the door opened, neither Luke's mum nor he wasted a moment and hurried inside. Except it wasn't a doorway to a room, it was a lift, and there were two people already inside. Both Luke and his mum stumbled straight into the two people, just before the lift door slammed shut again.

Luke collided into a young, blonde girl. His sudden rush forwards seemed to surprise her. She fell against the back of the lift with a bang. He landed smack on top of her. His mum, on the other hand, was a bit luckier. She landed into the arms of the other stranger: a tall, slim man.  
  
"Oi!" the man yelled, already sounding ready to complain, but he stopped short of that, and instead, exclaimed, "Sarah Jane Smith! Well, this is a small world!"  
  
"Doctor!" Luke's mum exclaimed. "It's you! ... Again!"  
  
Looking more closely, Luke saw it was the Doctor just as he remembered seeing him that time on Mr. Smith's screen.   
  
"Doctor!" Luke yelled overjoyed and surprised.  
  
The Doctor turned his gaze towards him and beamed a huge grin at him. "Hello, Luke! Glad to see you too! What are you and your mum doing here? Don't tell me you're after the Zyums too? What a small world! I was just telling Jenny earlier today that the Earth..."  
  
"Oi!" another voice beneath Luke yelled, interrupting the Doctor. Immediately, Luke's gaze shifted to the young, blonde girl beneath him. She was still pinned between the lift wall and him. A blush spread over Luke's cheeks.  
  
"Oops, sorry," he apologetically, jumping to his feet. He reached out a hand to the girl but she just glared at him. There was something in that look that initially made him want to cringe, fearful of her wraith. Then slowly, he realised the strength behind that threat wasn't really there, not fully. He felt a need to chuckle. Instead, he decided to just look very apologetic.  
  
"Be nice, Jenny," the Doctor scolded her. She flashed a hurt and offended look at the Doctor. Her lips parted, looking ready to argue, but after a long, drawn out sigh, she accepted Luke's hand.  
  
Rising to her feet, she gave Luke a quick, not very happy smile. "Thank you... Luke was it?"  
  
Luke swallowed uncomfortable and nodded. "Yes, and you're welcome. Sorry again. I wouldn't normally just crash into people like that, but with that alien guard dog on our tail..."  
  
"What alien guard dog?" the Doctor asked quickly, looking between Luke and his mum with a raised eyebrow.  
  
Suddenly, there was a very loud bang from the sealed door of the lift. Everyone jumped and took one big step back from the lift doors. The Doctor and Luke's mum exchanged questioning looks.  
  
"That's the guard dog, I'm guessing," Jenny commented, softly chuckling. "Sounds like he's hungry."  
  
"Yes," both the Doctor and Luke's mum replied seriously, before activating their respective sonic devices. Both of them pressed them to the access panel of the lift.  
  
"Well, I guess this might prove to be more eventful than I first anticipated," Jenny said, crossing her arms over her chest. She gazed gleefully at the lift door as it shook again, and then she raised an eyebrow in Luke's direction.  
  
"Just a normal day for me," Luke commented back with a grin, shoved his hands into his coat pockets.  
  
That made Jenny grin even more. "I think I'm going to like you, Luke," she said gingerly.  
  
Luke couldn't help the new blush that reddened his face.  
  


oOo

  
Jenny found herself once again leaning against a wall doing nothing. Luckily, this time she wasn't alone. Luke Smith, son of Sarah Jane Smith, was with her. When she asked her father how he knew Sarah Jane, he made some off-handed comment about medieval England and snoopy journalists sticking their nose into blue boxes they shouldn't.  
  
Sarah Jane quickly countered with an even stranger comment about Time Lords with unhealthy frill and scarf obsessions. When her father mentioned the strange habits of human females and Sarah Jane said something about a place called Croydon, Jenny looked over to Luke for an explanation. He looked just as confused as her, staring at her and shrugging.   
  
Thus, her father and Sarah Jane continue their peculiar argument about clothing and hypothetical journalists, while they still occasionally worked on overriding the Zyum's lock on the lift controls for the sub-terrain levels. As for Jenny, she lost interest in their random comments. Instead, she turned her attention to the other, new person in the lift.  
  
Glancing in Luke's direction, she studied him. He didn't look any different from any other human bloke Jenny had met, young or old. Of course, that wasn't saying much since her father didn't either. Sure, Luke spoke with intelligence, showing a better ability than most to string a line of words together, but that wasn't what held Jenny's attention. It was something deeper, something Jenny couldn't see or hear.  
  
"So..." Luke said, interrupting her musings, "you travel with the Doctor?"  
  
"Uh, yeah!" she replied, suddenly finding herself fidgeting with the edge of her green tee. "I've been doing it for awhile now."  
  
"So you're one of his companions then?" he asked, cocking his head to the side, "Like my mum once was."  
  
Jenny's eyes widened at that bit of information, giving a quick glance at Sarah Jane and her father, who were still managing to argue and work at the same time. "No, well, ohm, sort of," she struggled to answer. Her full attention returned to Luke. "He's my father."  
  
Luke's eyes suddenly widened.  
  
Across the lift, Sarah Jane piped up, "Father?!"  
  
That pulled Jenny's attention instantly back across the lift.  
  
Sarah Jane was frowning at Jenny's father for a moment with a look of suspicion. "Since when have you been a father? You said they were all gone. I mean... how..."  
  
"Well," her father said, swallowing nervously, "it's complicated."  
  
"What isn't with you?" Sarah Jane stated sardonically. A bemused smile curved her lips, while she crossed her arms over her chest.  
  
Jenny's father opened and closed his mouth a few times, and then, swayed his head slowly from side to side. "Very complicated."  
  
"I mean have you been... you know," Sarah Jane inquired with raised eyebrows. She gazed momentarily at Jenny, giving her a once over look. "Rose and you?"  
  
"No!" her father said fervently, shaking his head negatively. "It's not like that."  
  
"No, I wasn't born," Jenny added with a small grin, pushing herself away from the wall. She could see her father needed a bit of help explaining. When it came to her, he often seemed to struggle give a simple explanation without making things worse. She looked between Sarah Jane and Luke, gesturing at herself. "I was created... from my dad's DNA."  
  
"Really?!" Luke said, sounding very excited. "I was created too!"  
  
Jenny turned sharply towards Luke with what she could only assume was a shell-shocked expression on her face. "Really!" she stated, hearing her father echoing her words. Her gaze froze on Luke, looking at him in a whole new light.  
  
"You never told me that," her father added.  
  
"Well, I... I..." momentarily stammered Sarah Jane. She swallowed, before stating, "You didn't tell me you had a daughter."  
  
Again, they were arguing. This time they were complaining about keeping secrets from each other, blaming the other for not staying in contact, and sticking her nose and his hand where it shouldn't be. If it wasn't so annoying, Jenny thought she might laugh.  
  
Instead, she decided to focus on Luke again. He stared wide eyed at her, while she gawked back at him. It was as if it was the first time they'd ever seen each other. Jenny couldn't help but feel a slight shiver of awe and excitement. She'd known there was something different about Luke, but she'd never imagined that what made him different from other humans would make him like her. Jenny nibbled her lower lip, wondering how far their similarities went. She wanted to inquire, but wasn't completely sure how best to do that. For the first time in awhile, she couldn't speak, just feeling her hearts racing in her chest. Her gaze skimmed over Luke as many questions flickered through her thoughts.  
  
Luckily, Luke was the one brave enough to start talking, breaking up their staring and gawking match. "So..." he asked hesitantly, waiting until she steadily met his gaze again before continuing, "Does that mean you're a lot younger than you look?"  
  
Jenny couldn't help the grin spreading over her face. "Yup!" she replied happily. "I'm technically three years old."  
  
"Cool!" Luke commented. "I'm about three too... well, technically. Biologically, I'm probably closer to fifteen."  
  
"Me too!" Jenny exclaimed loudly.  
  
"Shush! No yelling in the lift, Jenny," her father scolded, momentarily fixing her with a disapproving look  
  
Sarah Jane snorted. "Like you could ever keep your voice down. This you is especially bad when in school, if you remember."  
Jenny sighed, rolling her eyes. Then raising an eyebrow at Luke, she asked in return, "Does that mean you don't have a belly button?"  
  
"Yes!" Luke answered with a blush on his cheeks. "I wasn't given one when the Bane created me."  
  
"Me too!" Jenny said excitedly. Her eyes briefly wandered to a point where his blue tee and jeans met. "Can I see? I'll show you mine too, if you'd like."  
  
"No!" boomed both her father and Sara Jane in unison. Both of Jenny and Luke turned to see their parents fixing them with silencing glares.  
  
"Why?" Jenny asked defensively, glaring at her father.  
  
"Because... because," her father stammered. "I say so!"  
  
"And it's wrong! Right, Doctor?" Sarah Jane piped up, looking to Jenny's father for support.  
  
"Yes," he agreed, "and there's no time. We have a world to save after all." With a quick, silencing nod at Jenny, he turned back to the now opened lift panel. "I think we almost have it, Sarah Jane."  
  
"Right!" Sarah Jane confirmed, looking past Jenny at Luke. She pointed at him as if to silently say again 'no,' and then, she looked between them. "You two stay out of trouble, no flashing belly buttons or anything else, while we finish this." Then she too turned back to the exposed lift panel.  
  
Jenny sighed, leaning once more against the back of the lift. She felt frustrated with adults, particularly her father. He always overreacted, seeing things that weren't there. She knew he thought 'looking at the lack belly buttons' was some sort of sexual code, something she'd picked up from Uncle Jack, and that's probably what Luke's mum thought to. It was crazy!  
  
First off, their parents were right there with them, trapped in a lift. It wasn't as if she was going to shag Luke right here, right now in front of them. Secondly, she barely knew Luke, and she didn't know if she felt that way about him. Sure, they might share not having belly buttons and being created, but that didn't offer enough reason to start a relationship, even if she knew her Uncle Jack would disagree.  
  
As she quietly fumed, she heard Luke chuckle slightly. Her gaze shifted towards him and narrowed. "What?" Jenny asked, feeling confused by Luke's sudden need to laugh. "What's so funny?"  
  
"I get it," Luke answered, lifting his gaze. He moved to stand beside her, leaning back against the same wall. Then he leaned in close and whispered, "They think we're talking about something other than belly buttons, right?"  
  
Jenny couldn't help the grin that curved her lips, so she just let it brighten her face, while nodding.  
  
"Ah, I see then," he said, still smiling. Then his smile faltered, and he looked at her accusingly. "You didn't mean it in terms of the other way. Right, Jenny?"  
  
"Of course, not!" Jenny spat, playfully nudging him. "I just meant the normal way, Wonder Boy."  
  
Luke chuckled, nodding his understanding. For a good few minutes, they fell into easy conversation. Jenny told him and Sarah Jane about how they got involved. She explained how they tracked the Zyums' signal to the Company's facility, running into UNIT. Luke told Jenny and her father, with add-ins from Sarah Jane, about a warehouse used by the Company in Ealing. Also, he described how two Zyums sent four trits after Luke and Sarah Jane. Jenny shivered a bit after Luke's frightfully detailed description of the trits. She certainly knew she'd never like to be cornered by one of them, if she could avoid it. All of them had followed similar signals and learned about the Zyums only after speaking with someone from UNIT.  
  
"Interesting that your UNIT friends, Dad, didn't mention meeting up with Miss Smith and Luke," Jenny commented ruefully.  
  
"Well, they may not have known we were investigating as well," Sarah Jane replied. "John Benton was the one that first told me, and he only knew through a contact he still has with UNIT."  
  
"Ah, good old Benton," her father said with a grin, glancing briefly at Sarah Jane. "Count on him still keeping his nose into alien things. Sound like someone else I know."  
  
Sarah Jane nervously laughed, but nodded in agreement. It was at this time that Jenny realised that her father and Sarah Jane had stopped arguing. She was exceedingly happy about that. Jenny was starting to get the feeling those two never got along and started to doubt they ever could have been travelling companions  
  
"A ha! I think we got!" her father exclaimed suddenly, sounding very happy. There was a series of four dings before the lift shuddered. Gazing up at the floor numbers, she saw the sub-terrain floors start to light up one after another. Jenny blew out a relieved breath.  
  
That's when she felt a gentle nudge. Turning her gaze in Luke's direction, she saw him leaning in close and smiling at her with a knowing look in his eyes. He said simply, "I know this might sound ridiculous, but I just wanted you to know that... well, I've never met anyone else like me, anyone not born, so I'm glad we met, Jenny."  
  
Jenny leaned in close to her and whispered. "Me too."

Luke blushed for the third time since Jenny had met him, and she decided she liked that colour on him.  
  
 _To be continued..._  


	3. Chapter 3

The four of them crept slowly and cautiously into an expansive, spherical room. Luke kept close but behind his mum. Jenny, on the other hand, stayed in step beside the Doctor. Luke considered the differences that existed in their parental relationships. However, before his thoughts got far, the sharp sound of the Doctor whistling drew him back to the situation at hand.

Luke saw the Doctor striding confidently forwards, gazing at the room with admiration and curiosity. "I have to say this place is quite impressive, all spherical," the Doctor commented, briefly glancing at the rest of them, "And I've seen plenty of impressive places. This one definitely stands on its own. The engineering alone must have been immense, particularly considering the cement and steel structure built above it. Quite impressive, definitely"

"Better than the sacred city on Exxilon?" Luke's mum piped up, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, yes! Much better than that dusty old behemoth," the Doctor replied with a dismissive shake of his head.

"I don't know, Doctor," Luke's mum countered with a sigh. "Highly advanced computer control city capable of incapacitating both the TARDIS and Dalek saucers, I'd say that's extremely impressive, not to mention a lot more attractive then this dust ball."

The Doctor gawked at Luke's mum. "Oi! Miss Smith, I think you're being a bit blind. You're missing the pieces of technology around us," he pointed out, gesturing towards the higher levels of the room. The shear vastness seemed to stretch at least another two levels with terraces on each. Luke saw on these terraces were several complex, blinking machines working away as mining equipment and lifts tugged more mounds of dirt upwards from a central pit in the room. They worked in timely and orderly fashion with no obvious outside influence. It was a regular mechanized system.

"Wow," Luke breathed as his mum and the Doctor continued to argue.

"Yes, I suppose," Luke mum said sourly, before smirking at the Doctor. She gestured towards a few points along the walls around them. "But I wouldn't consider incinerators to be that technological advanced."

The Doctor gazed about with his lower lips moving in and out thoughtfully. "Well, yes, not exactly vastly advanced, but I suppose when stuck on a backwater world like Earth..."

"Oh, come on, Doctor!" Luke's mum exclaimed with a glare.

"Well, I'm just saying..." the Doctor started to say with a shrug.

"Uh, Dad," Jenny interrupted, backing further into the room with a fearful look in her wide, blue eyes. "We've got company."

Luke turned sharply towards the doorway, only to see ten, snarling trits massing towards them. He quickly backed up into his mum. She gripped his shoulders pulling him towards the Doctor and Jenny.

"Trouble," Luke's mum commented, "but I'm assuming you expected that, Doctor."

Looking completely calm, the Doctor nodded and smiled at Luke and his mum. Then he snapped away from the approaching trits as if he wasn't worried about them. "All right, you have us here, so you might as well show yourselves!" he called out to the room.

The ten trits correlated them closer and closer to the central pit. Luke thought for sure the trits were going to either suddenly leap on them or force them into the pit, which he assumed was the bottomless kind. Much to his surprise, as he approached the edge with his mum, the Doctor, and Jenny, he saw that in fact it was less than three meters deep. Out of the dimly lit interior crawled two Zyums. Luke was sure that they were the same Zyums his mum and he had stumbled across at the Company's Ealing warehouse the night before. He recognized the three pink scars on the muzzle of one and the lack of whiskers on the nose of other.

They had murderous looks in their black eyes. Yet, nothing came of it. Luke would never know how the Doctor got them to start talking instead of killing them straight out, but suddenly, the Zyums were in a discussion with the Doctor and Luke's mum. The Zyums revealed that they were the only two surviving members of their exploration team. The rest had died off some time ago, but these two were soon expecting reinforcements from Knye. Luke's mum and the Doctor made it clear they couldn't allow any more to come if they had hostile intentions.

The Zyums explained that their mission was vital to the survival of Kyne. They needed to leech certain, essential bacteria and protozoa from the soil. These specific ones were essential to the fertility of the soil for planting. From there, both Luke's mum and the Doctor filled in the blanks.

"So you're using the Molten Agricultural Fertilizer Company as a front, selling this special fertilizer towards that end," Luke's mum said.

"Yes, a special Kyne chemical compound that, let me guess," the Doctor continued, striding about and glancing this way and that at a few crates with the Company's logo on it. Lifting the lid of one crate, he pulled out a shining, yellow capsule. "An elephant-sized, polymer capsule made of..." He paused, sniffing and then promptly licking it. The Doctor's nose wrinkled. "Blag!" Suddenly, he set off in a long line of complex explanation of the components of the chemical. Luke had to admit even he struggle to keep up with the Doctor's technical explanation. "...literally separates the microorganisms from the soil they inhabit, placing them into an artificial but environmentally harmless compound."

"Yes!" Luke's mum jumped in. "The sticky, yellowish compound shown in your advertisements. Of course, you have your consumers thinking the sticky substance is a harmless by-product of improving the quality of their land, allowing your human workers to come in removing the now temporally immobilized microorganisms without anyone noticing, until it's too late. In fact, you call it all part of the service of helping your customers."

"Yes," Zyum with the missing whiskers answered, rubbing his furry, clawed hands together greedily. "Humans are so willing, if they think it's helping the environment or making them more money."

"Given enough time, you'd strip all of the Earth's soil of many vital microscopic organisms," his mum stated angrily. "Virtually wiping out every crop, tree, and flower... all plant life on Earth."

"Not our concern," the Zyum with the scars on its face answered, already beckoning a few of the trits his way. "We must save our world. For too long we have been without them. We need them more than this world. And nothing is going to..."

"How?" the Doctor interrupted. "How can your world be without them? I know you live in more darkness than here, but still you should have your own. So why not?"

The two Zyums looked at one another, before nodding in agreement. "They are extinct," answer the Zyum with the missing whiskers. "Several generations ago, our scientists discovered more effective mining methods for improving our underground cities, but the processes and chemical we used had adverse effects on the soil."

"The concentration of noxious gases and chemicals into the soil increased beyond what the microorganisms could handle. Within a few generations, all of them were wiped out," the Zyum with the scars continued, sighing frustrated. "A mistake we are trying to fix. Our best scientists are now working on cleaning up the soil and atmosphere enough to allow for a new introduction of the same microorganisms... to once more have them exist. That is why we are here. We need to gather the new batch to restore soil fertility."

"That doesn't mean you can mess with another world," the Doctor told them, fixing them with a cold glare. "If you stop right now what you are doing, I'll find another way to help you. I could use stasis chambers aboard my ship to bread a supply of microorganisms for you from a sample. It might take a few years to get the population you need, but in the meantime..."

However, as Luke expected they did what many threatening alien forces had done before, they refused. That made the next step very obvious to Luke and the rest of them. Before the Zyums could order the trits to attack, both Luke's mum and the Doctor activated their sonic devices, disorientating both the Zyums and the ten trits.

Then the Doctor had yelled to Luke and Jenny:

"You two take care of those trits. We'll deal with the Zyums!"

"What!" his mum exclaimed, sounding ready to argue, but her words ended when the Doctor grabbed her hand and headed off towards one of the mining lifts.

"Okay!" Jenny yelled back, grabbing Luke by the hand. She dragged him towards another doorway, but before they went through, he looked once more back for his mum and the Doctor. They were aboard one of the digging equipment lifts, already vanishing into one of the high terraces and out of view.

Jenny and Luke's path winded through artificial corridors made of stone and wood. They had stopped once or twice when Jenny paused to find a new direction in the criss-crossing hallways. He still had no idea where she was leading him. "I hope you know where you are going, Jenny!" he panted, glancing back to make sure the trits weren't close behind.

"Oi! I haven't heard you offer any ideas, Wonder Boy," she complained with a quick stern glance back at him.

"Well, I don't even know what your plan is," Luke pointed out, stepping up beside her.

"Yeah, neither do I," Jenny mumbled under her breath with an understanding nod.

"What!" Luke said loudly, gawking at her shocked.

Quickly, Jenny flashed a grin at Luke. She playfully tapped him on the nose "Trust me, Wonder Boy! I'll come up with something soon." When there was a sudden thunderous roar from a point behind them, Jenny grabbed his hand again, leading him onward.

A few moments later, they entered a new, spherical room. It looked a lot like the main room they'd first seen, except this one was a bit smaller and looked unkempt or perhaps under construction. There were stone blocks and wooden planks littered about in different places, but none of that operational mining equipment they'd seen before.

The room was in such a clutter that Luke tripped over a piece broken board of wood. Stumbling forward, he collided into Jenny, who stopped suddenly in front of the central pit. For a breathless second, he thought they'd fall over the edge, but luckily, Jenny's stance was steady enough to prevent it.

"Oops," Luke apologized sheepishly, "sorry about that."

Jenny didn't reply. Instead, her gaze focused on the deep blackness of pit. That's when Luke realised another difference between the two spherical rooms. The burrow hole, which in the other room was only a couple meters deep, was a bottomless-looking void here. It looked like it went on forever.

"Ah, idea!" Jenny chimed with a wide grin, winking at Luke. Then she hurried immediately away.

"Whoa," he breathed, feeling unstable before the dark void of the pit. "That was too close. I could have..."

"But you didn't," Jenny interrupted him, drawing in a few deep breaths. There was the clutter of wood against wood.

Luke turned sharply towards her, while stepping quickly away from the pit's edge. He stammered, still apologizing, "But... but if I had... had pushed you any further forward, you could have fallen in. I'm so..."

"Look I said forget it," Jenny stated through clamped teeth, while dragging a very long wooden board from one of the woodpiles. "And I said I had an idea. Now help me place this over the hole."

Moving to help her, Luke inquired, "So tell me what is this idea with the wood?"

"As my dad would say it's a brilliant plan, which you gave to me," she said hefting one side of the wooden board along to the edge of the pit. "Now you stay here, while I move around, okay?"

"Okay," Luke said, watching closely as Jenny tentative made her way around the pit with her side of the board. "Wait, what did you mean by I gave it to you?"

Grunting and seeming to struggle, Jenny said, "You'll see." Both of them adjusted their grip continuously on the wooden board, until Jenny was on the opposite side of the pit to Luke. Carefully, they both lowered their ends of the board.

"Stand back!" Jenny called, dashing back around the pit to Luke's side. Once there, she adjusted the board, which now looked more like an unstable, makeshift bridge.

"Trap?" Luke asked simply with a raised eyebrow.

"Perfect for blind pigs, of course," she explained with a chuckle. Rising to her feet, she turned to him and winked.

Luke's brow furrowed. He cocked his head to the left, giving her an inquisitive look. "How so?"

"You'll see!" Jenny said excitedly, placing a testing step on the edge of the board. After her first foot found some stability, she placed the next. Over her shoulder, she glanced at Luke, grinning even more. "Come on, Wonder Boy!"

"What!" Luke exclaimed, gapping at the unstable, makeshift bridge across. Even from the small distance across, Jenny's footing gave him no confidence in the reliability of that bridge. Everything he knew about material stress and physics told him that bridge was less than likely to hold Jenny all the way across, and definitely, couldn't hold both of them. "Are you crazy?! Why can't we just go around it?"

"Because, they need to follow our scent across, Wonder Boy," Jenny said in a serious but slightly teasing tone. When she turned to face him, the amused look on her face flattened. Obviously, she could tell he wasn't convinced, despite plan being sound. It was just that her method was unsound.

Jenny gazed back at him with a reassuring smile. "Trust me, Luke," she said calmly and confidently, reaching out a hand to him. "I won't let you fall. I promise."

He swallowed, still gazing nervously at the shaking plank of wood under Jenny's feet. He had great faith in the Doctor's ability to defy the odds, but could he trust that his daughter was just as good? Giving one more nervous glance at the trembling bridge, he considered an old story his mum told him. It was a particularly dangerous adventure with the Doctor. He couldn't remember the name of the planet or the threat she and the Doctor faced, but Luke recalled that it was through pure trust in the Doctor and those around her that they survived. After another two long breaths and hearing the thunders squeals of the trits fast approaching the spherical room, he took Jenny's right hand.

Out on to the slender bridge of wood, they journeyed. The entire way Jenny held his left hand, never letting it go. Of course, considering how tightly he squeezed it, she probably wouldn't be able. Still, that wasn't what kept him distracted from the potential danger. Jenny was smiling at him, beaming like a radiant sun.

The shear vibrancy and glow seemed to even fill her eyes. Those cool blue pools shimmered at him, never leaving his gaze longer than a few seconds. He wanted to say these words to Jenny, but all he could do is gawk at her, much like Clyde did when Luke was explaining a calculus problem to him.

Much sooner than Luke realised, they were on the other side of the pit. Jenny guided him off with ease. Solid ground immediately greeted Luke's footing, but he didn't look down. Instead, he kept staring into Jenny's blue eyes.

"Ah, Wonder Boy," Jenny said slowly with a wavering smile. Her gaze flickered down a few times from his gaze. "You can let go of my hand now."

"What!" Luke said bashfully, before pulling his left hand away from her. "Uhm, I'm sorry. Sorry." He turned away from her, wishing the warmth in his cheeks to go away. He'd never blushed this much around a girl before and felt very confused why it was happening now. The creak of the wooden board interrupted those thoughts. He turned back towards Jenny to see her shifting the end of the board on their side, causing it to plummet into the void of the pit.

"There!" Jenny stated, dusting her hands off and taking a few steps back from the pit.

"Now, we wait?" he asked, before he heard another thunderous squeal from the mass of trits entering the grand room. The mass of ten trits wasted no time rushing towards Jenny and him. The ones at the front leapt through the air, but a moment later, vanished into the dark void. The rest appeared to follow after.

He gazed at Jenny with pure amazement. "That's brilliant! You're as clever as your father."

However, he noticed that Jenny wasn't smiling. A sharp, almost mournful squeal told him things hadn't quite worked out as planned. Looking back across the pit, he saw a lone trit, dipping its large snout over the edge. "Ah," Luke said, feeling deflated.

"Well, I didn't expect that," Jenny commented, scratching the back of her neck. "I thought for sure..." They both watched as the last trit made a whimpering, squealing noise, while testing the edge of the pit with its snout.

"I'd say that one's much cleverer than the rest," Luke told her, watching as, very slowly, the trit crept around the edge of the pit, briefly stopping occasionally to sniff the edge. "In fact, I don't think it will take that trit much time to find us again."

Jenny twisted towards him with raised shoulders. "Well, that was my plan. What's yours, Boy Wonder?"

"Me?" Luke asked, his voice jumping a bit in his throat. "What do you expect...?" Then a strange idea came to him. A small smile crept across his face.

"Idea?" Jenny asked as Luke grabbed her hand, dragging her through another doorway.

"Yes!" Luke replied eagerly.

oOo

Luke led her back to the main spherical room, where they first met the Zyums. Their parents were nowhere in sight, but neither were the Zyums. Jenny suspected they were off dealing with the Zyums.

"This way!" Luke stated loudly, leading her towards one of the incinerators. Once there, he released her and reached towards the rubber handles of the metal door. He tugged it open as she watched him with curiosity.

Jenny knew he was up to something, but still wasn't sure what. As she felt a wave of heat radiating from the incinerator, she considered what sort of trap Luke was planning. "What do you have in mind, Wonder Boy?" Jenny asked, even as she heard the high-pitched squeal of the trit. She wasn't afraid, but she wanted to understand.

"Setting a hot-footed trap," Luke explained joyfully, picking up a poker leaning against the wall beside the incinerator. He prodded the fire inside, causing flecks of ash and embers to fly about him. "Trust me!"

Jenny smiled warmly at Luke, clasping her hands behind her. "Of course, I trust you, Wonder Boy."

Luke stopped his prodding and gradually turned towards her. There was a silly grin on his ash and dirt covered face. "Really? You really trust me, just like that?"

Jenny chuckled, tapping the tip of his dirty nose. "Yup," she said happily. "You trusted me after all. That's a point in my books."

"Right," Luke chuckled, before gazing away. Following his gaze, Jenny saw the last of the trit racing towards them. Though as fast as it moved, it stopped abruptly a short distance from them. The trit sniffed the ground, probably searching for another pit.

"Clever little trit, aren't you?" Luke called out.

The trit lifted its slightly fuzzy head, facing in Luke's direction. Jenny knew it couldn't see them, but she wondered if perhaps its hearing was nearly as good as its sense of smell. Then she started to realise what Luke was planning. Gazing briefly at the incinerator behind them and then at the trit, she put two and two together.

"That's what your idea is, isn't it?" she asked, staring pointedly at Luke, who kept his gaze on the trit.

He didn't answer, but did give her a half smile out the side of his face she could see. "But I bet you aren't brave as your siblings! You were too scared to try jumping the pit! Runt of the litter, I bet!" Luke taunted loudly.

Jenny couldn't believe that Luke was betting on the small cleverness of the trit, hinting at some sort of sentience. More likely, Jenny thought it was instinct kicking in. It was a long shot, hoping the trit would jump into the incinerator in a blind rage. Still, trying to goad the trit was a clever plan. Jenny couldn't help being impressed, grinning slyly at Luke.

All of a sudden, the trit suddenly reared up on its hind legs, flaring its nostrils in response to Luke. Jenny started wide-eyed at the trit. She knew that probably was a response, if any could be consider as one.

"That's right, flare your nostrils at me all you like, but it doesn't make it any less true," Luke yelled. "You. Are. Still. A. Coward!"

An extremely ear piercing squeal broke the air. Without warning, the trit took off full speed towards Jenny and Luke. She felt Luke take her hand, squeezing it tightly, while holding his ground between the trit and the incinerator. Just as the trit launched itself into the air at them with its jaws wide open, Luke shoved Jenny out of the way.

Jenny was reminded of a scene in from one of those James Bond movies her father had shown her on board the TARDIS: the trit barely missed them, sailing straight into the incinerator, while Luke landed squarely on top of her, shielding her from harm. There was another high-pitched squeal from the trit as a crackling sound consumed it. In a moment, the squealing died away. Jenny could only pant heavily against Luke's left cheek.

Jenny wasn't sure how she felt at the moment. A thousand sensations and emotions raced through her. Even more questions echoed fruitlessly in her befuddled mind. Luke slightly groaned, pushing himself up enough to bring them face to face. She just stared back at Luke with what she was sure was a bewildered expression. His warm breath skittered across her face, and his blue gaze moved up and down her face.

That's when she thought about something her Uncle Jack once said to her. He'd given her a piece of advice to use, if she ever found herself pinned under a good-looking bloke she even only slightly fancied. Except what fell from her lips was quite the opposite of one of her Uncle Jack's pick-up lines:

"Would you please get off me, Wonder Boy?"

Luke's face fell, all the colour draining from it. Rapidly, he pushed himself off of her, while apologetic words tumbled from his lips. Instantly, Jenny cursed her words and wished she had taken her Uncle Jack's advice. 

oOo

"So, Dad took care of the Zyums' communication signal, while we were away," Jenny explained to Luke as they stepped into the backyard of Luke's house. "It is unlikely they ever had a chance to receive the signal, so Earth should be safe, but just in case, he has Uncle Jack keeping an eye out for anymore Zyums' ships."

"And mum says that UNIT is dealing with the Company," Luke added as he took a seat on the swinging bench. Jenny took a seat beside him. "The article my mum wrote said the owners were found to be breaking several international environmental laws with their new fertilizer. Of course, authorities haven't been able to locate them, but are gathering evidence against them." He winked knowingly at Jenny, remembering that their parents taken care of the two Zyums.

"So that's the end of that," Jenny stated, shifting her gaze to the starry sky high above them. She leaned back, sighing happily. "A normal day in the life of the Smiths."

"And yours is so different?" Luke asked accusingly at her. He wasn't about to let her get away with that comment. After all, he wasn't the one that lived on a time machine with father over nine hundred years old.

Jenny titled her head in his direction with a contented smirk on her face. She giggled, titling her head, until it rested against his shoulder. Her face pressed into his jean jacket's left shoulder.

"Oh, Wonder Boy, you are just amazing!" Jenny stated, lifting her face. She was still beaming at him as she reached out to tap the tip of his nose once for each adjective she said next. "Smart, clever, brave, and funny! That's you to a T."

Luke couldn't help the blush colouring his cheeks. "I'm... I'm not the only one," he said, feeling slightly tongue-tied but desperately wanting to find a way to compliment her. "You're as brave and clever as your dad."

"And you're like your mum," Jenny said, leaning back against the armrest behind her. "I suppose we got the best of our parents. Brave and clever as them."

They both grinned at each other, but their smiles fell when his mum's voice broke across the peaceful silence of the night:

"I do no hold Luke back, Doctor!"

Both Luke and Jenny gazed towards the open window. Their parents stood apart with arms crossed over their chests. They were arguing again, and this time it was about Jenny and him.

"I think it's you pushing Jenny too much," Luke's mum stated angrily. "She's a child, barely older than Luke. She's not just another companion. You need to set more guidelines for her, to protect her if nothing else."

"Guidelines? Guidelines!" the Doctor said loudly, wildly gesturing his arms above his head. "Oh, oh, excuse me! Who was it that pushed me to take risks? Who was it that liked to sneak into every facility and mansion we came across? Who did I have to repeatedly save?!"

"You save!" Sarah Jane scoffed. "Excuse me, who saved who from..."

As the angry voices of their parents continued, Jenny turned to Luke with a frown. "You know what, Luke, I take it back," she declared, "We're loads cleverer than our parents."

Luke chuckled, shaking his head. "With all that arguing, it's hard to imagine they were ever travelling companions," he told her with an exasperated sigh.

"That's what I was thinking!" Jenny agreed, tapping the tip of Luke's nose again. "Hey, great minds do think alike."

"Absolutely!" Luke exclaimed, even as there was more yelling from his home.

"You know, if they were travelling companions, they'd have throttled each other before making it half way across your solar system," Jenny added teasingly.

That made Luke chuckle again. "Yeah," he said simply. Then he stopped and winced when he heard his mum's voice reach a new level of shrillness. After a long drawn out sigh, he rose to his feet and turned slightly to Jenny. "Would you like to go for a walk, Miss Smith?" he asked, curving his arm out as he once recalled seeing Clyde do for a girl at school.

Jenny smiled, rising to her feet and interlocking her arm around his arm. "I thought you'd never ask, Wonder Boy."

They both giggled, while heading out of the backyard arm in arm.


End file.
